Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

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AndyB4235
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Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby AndyB4235 » Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:27 pm

Hi, we have recently purchased a property near Albanchez and are hoping to move permanently at the beginning of May. We will be travelling over in our motorhome and also thinking of buying a van to help with our furniture. My question is, do people think it would be easy to then sell the van once we have finished using it, hopefully to someone who is moving in the opposite direction? Don't really want to use a man with van or removal company and will probably use it until we get residency then sell it on, is there a ready market for this? Would welcome replies if anyone has done similar. Thanks, Andy

1bassleft
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby 1bassleft » Sun Feb 16, 2020 5:42 am

Assuming you are thinking of buying a van in the UK and coming down in convoy, rather than getting a van once in Albanchez for local shifting, that might well be a hard sell once you're done with it. RHD has very limited appeal, moreso with larger vehicles. I have a LHD Combo Tour, which has been a handy and reasonably pleasant lugger for Spring and Autumn trips but I now have to think about the implications of my recent switch to ES residency. It's an unfortunate bit of timing as people get nervy when "the bloke in the bar" tells them uniformed stories of roadside checks etc.

Lots of things are in a bit of flux (although clarity is improving) and it's a well-informed person who has any certainty about how used vehicles with UK plates will go. If you don't know, transferring a vehicle onto ES plates is considerably more involved and costly than putting a vehicle onto UK plates. Anyone selling up and moving back to UK, but still ES-resident and perhaps having swapped for an ES licence, could be jittery about driving a UK plated car in Spain (with good reason). So, your market would be UK residents selling up their holiday home and fancying your van to take personal stuff back. And your place is a bit in the sticks; it does seem like a small market.

Personally, I'd get some figures for man+van cost, and also the multinational hirers for pickup in UK and drop off in wherever's nearby (Lorca, Murcia, Almeria? as soon as you've emptied it) as a basis for whether buying a van works out even if you have to practically give it away once its time's up.

I noticed on ebay uk that a Spanish-plated LHD Plymouth Voyager in the Benidorm area is being offloaded for €995 (paper trail is a bit whiffy) by a Brit who's got his use out of it, which is an indication of how volatile the market is at the moment.

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costakid
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby costakid » Sun Feb 16, 2020 9:52 am

It will only be legal for 6 months and with a van there is no option to transfer it to Spanish plates. Small market and small legal window.

elusive
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby elusive » Sun Feb 16, 2020 10:13 am

Tbh imo in the long run it will be less hassle to pay to have your things brought down. Depending on the cost of a van and the cost of removals it might not be that much different and alot less hassle trying to get rid of the van afterwards

AndyB4235
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby AndyB4235 » Sun Feb 16, 2020 11:50 am

Thank You everyone for your replies, very helpful. I will make some enquiries re removal companies and do a cost comparison. Our motorhome is LHD so hopefully easier to transfer onto Spanish registration and we are going to purchase a Spanish registered vehicle once we are there. Once again, thanks for taking the time to reply.

elusive
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby elusive » Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:05 pm

Just as an example it cost us around £3,500 in 2014 to bring pretty much everything. Sofas,living bedroom furniture.personal effects etc with david dale (big company)

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knowal
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby knowal » Sun Feb 16, 2020 3:11 pm

I'd recommend you get in touch with Jimbo the Scot, who is a member of this forum and does regular UK - Spain - UK runs.
http://www.jimbothescot.com/avail.htm
It will probably cost you less in the long run.

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GerryinCajiz
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby GerryinCajiz » Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:35 am

I moved 15 cu mtr in 2017 at a cost of just over £1400.
Gerry

AndyB4235
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby AndyB4235 » Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:13 am

Thanks all for your suggestions. We are on plan p now. We actually haven't got a huge amount of furniture to bring over so it may work out cheaper to sell what we have here in the UK and buy replacements in Spain. We can load our essentials on the motorhome and just do the oneway trip! I know that furniture can be a bit more expensive in Spain but what we save on not sending/ bringing over the small amount we have, we can use to buy replacements.

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costakid
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby costakid » Wed Feb 19, 2020 11:59 am

And unlike the old days where it was hard to locate good quality furniture unless you were in Marbella the majority of big towns have a descent shop. We really struggled to buy quality bedroom furniture 18 years ago. It was El Corte Ingles and they really knew how to charge.

elusive
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby elusive » Wed Feb 19, 2020 1:05 pm

I agree. We bought alot of furniture with us as we rented and although the houses were "furnished" it was horrible stuff with no real storage. We also wanted our own things around us in order to feel like home.As it was only a rental we didnt want to feel like we lived in a holiday let.so different than if we had bought.So unless its sentimental things it will be easier just to buy out here.theres enough decent shops or you could just ikea the house! Go throuh everything and list things you really want to keep

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gerryh
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby gerryh » Wed Feb 19, 2020 2:18 pm

When we moved to Spain, nearly 16 years ago, in our motorhome I bought a box trailer for the things of personal and sentimental value.
Didn't bring any furniture as not having bought a property here in Spain we didn't know if our furniture would suit/ fit the new house.
Also, leaving some furniture in our UK house probably made it more saleable as people could see the rooms with furniture in them even if they didn't like our choice of furniture.
Cheers
Gerry
Gerry Harris

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knowal
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby knowal » Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:15 pm

costakid wrote:And unlike the old days where it was hard to locate good quality furniture unless you were in Marbella the majority of big towns have a descent shop...
Would that be a bargain basement? :D

Kite29
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby Kite29 » Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:52 pm

GerryinCajiz wrote:I moved 15 cu mtr in 2017 at a cost of just over £1400.
Did you use a company? If so, who?

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costakid
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby costakid » Wed Feb 19, 2020 11:33 pm

Not bargain basement, We always buy quality but once you go past La Cala De Mijas the prices double.

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peteroldracer
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby peteroldracer » Thu Feb 20, 2020 12:15 am

Shame there isn't an emoji for "that went right over his head.."
I used to cough to disguise a [email protected] I f@rt to disguise a cough.

1bassleft
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby 1bassleft » Thu Feb 20, 2020 6:50 am

:clap: , Horse. That was a tickler for me as I just read it.

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costakid
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby costakid » Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:25 am

JA JA JA!

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GerryinCajiz
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Re: Buying a van to move furniture to Spain

Postby GerryinCajiz » Thu Feb 20, 2020 8:29 pm

Kite29 wrote:
GerryinCajiz wrote:I moved 15 cu mtr in 2017 at a cost of just over £1400.
Did you use a company? If so, who?
I have sent you a private message
Gerry


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